Save us from being sent out of business – Poultry farmers beg Makinde

The Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Oyo state chapter has called on Governor Seyi Makinde to save the association and poultry farmers from being sent out of business.

In a statement by its Oyo PAN Chairman Elder Oyekunle  Omidokun made available to newsmen in Ibadan at the weekend, it said this became necessary because  of the directive issued by the State Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development stipulating a mandatory payment of N500 thousand per chicken slaughtered and processed in privately owned chicken processing plants across Oyo state.

The association stressed that the mandatory payment will add more to the already enormous challenges of scarce and unavailability of raw materials facing the poultry industry, saying, “we poultry farmers are still faced with enormous challenges of scarce and unavailability of raw materials”.

” Where cost of doing business has tripled in the last one year and forcing many of our poultry farmers to abandon the business and the country for greener pastures, we find it very discouraging to hear that this burden of tax is about to be introduced by the Oyo State Government”, it said

The association added, “The poultry market space is currently heavily challenged with unavailability of raw materials which has made the materials scarce and very expensive. In turn, there is scarcity of frozen chicken in the market due to the continuous shrink in size of the poultry industry in the country.”

” In as much as we appreciate the effort of His Excellency, Governor Seyi Makinde in ensuring that farmlands in Oyo State are secured and his continuous effort in ensuring food security in the state and Nigeria as a whole, while aligning with the mandate of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu, who has designed policies that will create and sustain food security by creation of agricultural hubs to increase food production and engage in value-added processing and other best modern practices that will minimize perennial conflicts, with the overall goal of ensuring that food is abundant and less costly.”

It stressed “This implies that poultry farmers in Oyo State are at a disadvantaged position in the poultry market space where other chicken processors operating in other states are not burdened with such tax. We only want to rear, slaughter and process our birds without added pressure”.

“We are in the food processing space and should not be treated differently from other food producers and processors by charging fees of N5:00k for every unit of raw materials used. Live birds are our raw materials used in chicken processing plants”.